Provocative Questions: Supporting effective dialogue about societal issues informed by human biology in a changing world: Exploratory Research Study

August 15, 2010 | Exhibitions

This report details the findings from an exploratory research study conducted by the Research and Evaluation Department at the Museum of Science, Boston about this exhibition, which came to be known as Provocative Questions (PQ). This investigation was guided by the following questions: 1. Will visitors engage in socio-scientific argumentation in an un-facilitated exhibit space, and are they aware that they are doing so? 2. How do the un-facilitated exhibits impact visitors’ socio-scientific argumentation skills? For the exploratory research study, visitors were cued to use the exhibits and observed. A subset of visitors was also video- and audio-taped. All visitors were interviewed afterward. To see the effects of the exhibition on visitors’ argumentation skills, researchers compared results from this study to those from a front-end study conducted before the exhibition was completed. Overall, findings showed that visitors used almost all of the components in the exhibition space, that they practiced a variety of socio-scientific argumentation skills, and that they were aware that they were doing so. Specifically, Provocative Questions visitors who took part in the study: • Demonstrated awareness of the three types of evidence; • Discriminated between the three different types of evidence; • Crafted arguments using supports; • Recognized that the exhibition was about forming opinions; and • Reported that they learned scientific evidence. Not only did Provocative Questions provide visitors the opportunity to practice these skills, the exhibition improved visitors’ socio-scientific argumentation skills. When comparing the arguments of visitors who used the exhibition to arguments of visitors who did not use the exhibition, the following findings emerged: • Individual visitors who used the exhibition were more likely to give an “unsure” claim for their opinion about the taxation of sugary drinks. • Groups who used the exhibition were more likely to use social values and scientific evidence in their arguments about taxing sugary drinks. • Groups who used the exhibition were more likely to use scientific evidence when asked their viewpoint about restricting antibacterial soaps and sanitizers. These successes provide the opportunity for further research in order to understand the broader ability of Provocative Questions to generate argumentation and improve visitors’ socio-scientific argumentation skills.